Nigeria overtakes India in extreme poverty ranking

By Bukola Adebayo, CNN

Updated 0807 GMT (1607 HKT) June 26, 2018

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Oil-rich Nigeria has seen its fair share of bad news in recent months. The largest economy in Africa has been hit with a fuel shortage, on top of currency problems and terrorism. "A lot of things that can go wrong, are going wrong at the same time," said London-based Nigerian accountant Feyi Fawehinmi. While economically the country is a "complete mess", Fawehinmi said the corruption situation in Nigeria is getting better under President Buhari, who took office a year ago.

People lining up to buy fuel earlier this year at a Mobil gas station in Lagos, Nigeria. A fuel shortage has caused massive disruption for a country which relies on fuel for its cars but also for powering its generators.

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Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, where United Airlines recently announced it won't fly to anymore. Nigeria is said to owe airlines nearly $600 million in airline fares, according to the International Air Transport Association.

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British Prime Minister David Cameron and Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari shake hands. Cameron recently called Nigeria "fantastically corrupt" in comments before an anti-corruption summit in London.

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Hesey Designs creative director Eseoghene Odiete says now is a great time to have a business in Nigeria. She says of her handbag and shoe company: "Local patronage has increased. Nigerians are looking inwards to purchase items they would otherwise have gotten from other countries."

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Mark Essien, CEO of Hotels.ng, Nigeria's largest hotel booking site, says now is a great time to invest in Nigeria. Production costs have dropped and he said it's a better time to hire and retain employees.

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Story highlights

Nearly 87 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty

The Democratic Republic of Congo comes second

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the largest number of people living in extreme poverty, with an estimated 87 million Nigerians, or around half of the country's population, thought to be living on less than $1.90 a day.

The findings, based on a projection by the World Poverty Clock and compiled by Brookings Institute, show that more than 643 million people across the world live in extreme poverty, with Africans accounting for about two-thirds of the total numb